The Inagural Flight

Two weeks ago today I was officially “over-due”.
Two weeks ago today my husband decided to start a new hobby.
Two weeks ago today my water broke and it was time to meet my little man!
Two weeks ago today…life changed….forever. <3

As my due date quickly approached I wondered each day if today would be the day. There was no doubt in my mind that I would be having a September baby. I mean think about it, both of my other babies have come early and after all I know all of the “things” to do to get labor going! Logical, right? J

I started doing all of those labor inducing things a few weeks out. The List had been completed, I felt prepared, and if this baby didn’t hurry the house wasn’t going to stay clean. J My contractions were a daily thing always increasing their activity at night. Both of my other labors started in the evening which has proven to make for some really long exhausting nights! Maybe this little man would be kind enough to start things in the morning….all wishful thinking! Every morning I would wake up feeling the same as I did the day before…pregnant. Several weeks prior to my due date I thought there was no way this little man was going to stay in there for very long. I felt so ready to pop. My tummy was huge and things just felt as if they were moving along. Then week or two before my due date things felt better. I didn’t even feel close to delivery and I wondered if he just might make it to due date. Certainly not though with all I was doing to get labor going! Then it happened. My due date came and went with no baby. However, I was grateful to be feeling well and continued to attempt to maintain the order in the house. Some of the “to do’s” on The List now had to be redone. It felt strange not having the baby yet, I was excited and ready to meet him but I was filled with peace knowing he would come when it was time. I tried to get plenty of rest and enjoy every night’s sleep knowing once my little man was here full night’s sleep would be lacking for a while. It’s a hazard of the job.

Monday, October 3^rd arrived. We had made it through another weekend with no baby. Brandon’s Monday’s always start out early due to the pastor’s prayer meeting. He headed out like usual just before 6:00am. I kissed him goodbye but instead of going back to sleep I headed to the bathroom to empty my bladder…again. For some reason I felt wide awake so I decided to get some things going for the day. During my morning and my frequent trips to the bathroom I noticed signs of labor that could be coming. My contractions, although lighter than normal, seemed to be coming a bit more regularly as well. I debated rather or not to call Brandon because I didn’t want to get his hopes up. Due to the strength and regularity of my contractions in the prior weeks there had been several times I thought it could possibly turn into labor.  False alarms are disappointing but I choose to go ahead and call him making it very clear it could still be days away but encouraging him to prioritize his day accordingly…just in case. New signs of coming labor are always great motivation to tie up any loose ends and get things done! As the morning went on the contractions slowed up and eventually even came to a stop. I would occasionally have one of the harder contractions like I’d been having for weeks but nothing that excited me. The house was done, I took a nap, and Greg and Kim came to take the girls for the afternoon so I could do what I needed to. The house was quiet with the girls gone and despite my brisk walk, among other things, my body seemed to be doing nothing to bring this baby any closer to his birthday. I felt discouraged. “Don’t get your hopes up.” I had told myself a hundred times but regardless of my warnings a glimmer of hope had somehow crept in and was now only being crushed as time ticked away with no progression for me whatsoever.

Brandon called during my gloomy afternoon. Throughout the years of our marriage he had made mention a few times of getting a remote control airplane. Nothing ever came of the comments and so when he had again brought up the subject I wasn’t too concerned. His phone call on this day was however a serious inquiry. He was ready to take the plunge and make the purchase. “Are you ok with that?” he asked. Being in the discouraged state I was in my mood was one of “I don’t care…do whatever”. I really didn’t mind and I only had one question and one request, “Where do you plan on keeping it?” “Make sure you don’t make a mess or leave out trash. The house is clean and ready and needs to stay that way!” He agreed to the request and didn’t have an answer for the question but planned to make the purchase anyway.

With nothing happening and my mood a poor one I decided I needed to get out of the house for a bit. Getting my mind off of waiting sounded like a good idea. I got a small treat and window shopped for a awhile. It was getting close to dinner time so I went and picked up the girls and headed home. Brandon was spread out in the living room putting together his newest toy. Plastic packaging and trash were spread around. I took a deep breath.

Nothing sounded good to eat so I put together a little something together for the girls and Brandon’s brother, who was coming to help with the plane, brought dinner for Brandon. I felt blah but was pretty sure it was just due to my mood.

The plane’s assembly was complete shortly after the 6:00 hour. With the sun slowly sinking out of the skyline the rush was on if this plane would have its inaugural flight tonight! Elizabeth and Katherine were all excited about “daddy’s plane” and they wanted to watch the show. It did seem as though it would be fun and sitting at home was doing me no good so we loaded up the expedition and headed over to a field right outside of our neighborhood. I popped the back door up and folded down the back seats. It made a nice place for the girls and I to sit and watch. After a couple attempts at take off the plane’s wheels had yet to leave the ground. With each try new things were learned and soon we had lift off. Now, when I say lift off I mean lift off. This plane being completely controlled by my husband quickly rose high above the ground. It was really cool! I began to feel uneasy as the plane headed toward the street. “You’re going to hit a car!” I shouted from the sidelines. In a calm, focused, shut-up-your-not-helping-me, tone of voice came the reply, “I know baby, I’m trying to bring it back.” From the ground the day felt perfectly windless but apparently thirty feet in the air was a bit windy and every time Brandon tried to turn the plan around the wind would catch it pushing it further away. As long as Brandon was headed toward the street he was somewhat in control of the toy. So with an amateur behind the controls, the flight path now brings itself across the main part of the intersection. I, as a woman, start picturing in my head the crash of the plane into a car that I feel is inevitable and only moments away. I being to laugh at the picture my imagination brings to me. This plane is going to cost us a fortune. I’m sure as will have to pay for damages, whatever they end up being, and there is pretty much no way this plane will be landed in one piece. I am laughing uncontrollably at this point and can’t even see the plane as Brandon tries to get this thing out of the sky with no damage to it or others. It is at this very moment I feel myself begin to wet my pants. Now, don’t start judging me here. As a very large pregnant woman if you don’t take great caution to control your laughter/bladder levels sometimes there is just nothing you can do about a little…um… leakage. (I hear that can also happen with old age.)What I was experiencing was way more than a little leakage however and I could not seem to make it stop. Could it be! Had my water just broke? I hoped that was the case because my pants were very wet and if that was all urine I would never live it down! Still laughing, now about the whole situation, I am start praying Brandon could land that stupid plane! Elizabeth who was sitting near the edge of the back of the car accidentally falls out straight onto her back. It looked painful. So with sopping wet pants, a child on the ground crying, a husband out of sight with a plane flying over traffic, I hobble out of the car and call for Jonathan to come, “Um, kinda quickly!” I add. When he gets to the car I ask where Brandon is. Apparently the plane had been landed in the field cati-corner from us near a herd of cows. The boys say one of the cows was running from the plane as it came in for a perfect landing!  Jon hollers for Brandon because I say I need him. When he comes running up he is laughing, I am laughing, and Jon is laughing. Before Brandon has a chance to break out into his story I tell him mine. “Are you kidding me!?” We load up the car and head back to the house with a story to tell, joy in our hearts, and laughter still coming from everyone as we recap the story over and over. Laughter is good like medicine, right? I felt great with no contractions yet.

Some dear friends came and picked up the girls for us. Before they left our little family was gathered together to give hugs and kisses and say our goodbyes. We told the girls Jackson was coming and they were super excited. Elizabeth seemed to really understand. I asked if they wanted to pray for Jackson. Katherine, as usual, started right in with a little prayer. “Do you want to pray Elizabeth?” I asked. For whatever reason she does not like to pray unless it is meal time. At the table she is always willing and ready but at bed or any other time she declines the offer. After the question she gently nodded and quietly began her prayer. “Jesus, please be with mommy and help Jackson to get here safely. Amen” It was a sweet moment and I couldn’t help but tear up. A moment I will treasure forever.

We made the phone calls we needed to and started packing our bags. The contractions begin to come. My mom and dad came to our house and after finishing things up we headed out for the hospital at about 9:00pm. With the hospital we deliver at I like to head out as soon as I can when I know labor is for real because my experience has been that their triage area is very slow and it takes a long time to get into a regular room.  We parked in the regular parking garage and walked because I knew it would be good for me. My contractions were getting less pleasant now but still about five minutes apart. While in triage the nurse was super nice. She checked me and I was dilated between a 3-4 but the baby was still really high.  I saw the midwife on call, Deb. She did an outstanding job! And I decided to get an epidural. WHAT!? Yes, I decided to get an epidural. WHY!? I thought yo….shhh, let me explain.

From the moment my water broke I was at peace. My adrenaline never came sweeping in, fear wasn’t upon me. I was ready to do this. The reason I have never gotten an epidural before is because I have never had a peace about getting an epidural. I talked about my journey this time around in a previous post.  As I sat in the triage room the thought of an epidural came to me and I felt…peace. The thought didn’t come during a hard contraction. It wasn’t based on the anything besides the peace I felt about getting it. I discussed the possibility with Brandon and he had no reservations. I discussed it with my midwife and she didn’t discourage it either. So I decided to do it. We were going to let things gets a little further along because they wanted me to walk around due to him being really high. I didn’t feel like walking at the moment and could tell the contractions were doing their job. I could feel him coming down.  Shortly the nurse came to take me to my room in labor and delivery. During the short walk there I had to stop twice for really hard contractions and they were not really followed by relief. I informed the nurse I was getting an epidural so if we could get that rolling it would be great. If I was going to get the epidural then I wanted to go ahead and get it so that I could actually enjoy this labor. The contractions were coming hard and strong and unpleasantly from the time I entered my room. I informed the nurse things were moving along quickly and we needed to get the epidural now if we were going to do it. There was a lady inline in front of me to get an epidural. The nurse said if she checked me and I was further along than the other woman than I would get my epidural first. After being checked I really didn’t care what I was as long as it was further along than the other woman. I was further along and although a little part of me felt bad for her I was really happy for me. If I recall correctly I was dilated to a good 5. The main thing I remember was that his head was now really low. Trying to breathe through and relax during contractions was getting harder. Things were still moving quickly. After several more contractions and what seemed like forever the epidural man came in. “I agree.” I exclaimed before he could even list the risks. “I know, but I still have to tell you the risks.” “Well talk fast” I tried to say as politely as possible. It took three tries to get the epidural in the correct place but it didn’t really hurt. The contractions hurt much worse! Shortly after that they asked me how that contraction felt. “What contraction? Did I have a contraction?” “A really big one” the nurse said. To which I promptly started singing the Hallelujah Chorus! J It was a great moment.  I would guess that by the time I got the epidural I was dilated to a seven. It wasn’t but maybe an hour later and I was pushing.  I was glad to have the ability to move my legs on my own and could even feel touching the whole time I had the epidural. Pressure was also felt and it still hurt a lot when he actually came out. Although pain is never pleasant I enjoyed knowing he was there and could still tell what I was doing without the pain of the contractions.

 Something else that was different this time around was the peanut gallery. Normally I have a whole crew of people watching the marvelous miracle of birth. After I got the epidural I asked most people to step out so I could rest a bit. Then I had to use the restroom. Of course with the epidural I couldn’t get up so that dismissed the rest of the onlookers. From that moment on they were working on me and then I was pushing. It felt right to not have anyone in the room. I was comfortable and able to focus on the task at hand. Normally I am in so much pain it doesn’t matter to me who is in the room. But since in between contractions it was just resting if felt strange being on display. When things got close, and I mean really close, I asked for the girls to be let back in the room. Unfortunately there wasn’t clear instruction and they didn’t all get in.L Sorry girls! I felt really bad about that. He was still greeted by many of people who love him very much!

 Jackson hardly cried at all when he came out. As they laid him on me I looked him over and declared “It’s a boy!” The thought still seemed surreal. He’s lungs were pretty wet and they took him and suctioned him out. He still never really cried much at all but the nursing tending to him said he was never in distress.  He’s made sure I know that he can cry now. J But most of the time he is very pleasant.

He has been such a great baby! My recovery has been super great! He is always so full of smiles and I think it is more than just gas. We have gotten into the swing of things faster than I would have ever imagined. The girls adore their brother and are actually great helpers. I’m a little afraid of Katherine being over zealous in her willingness and initiative to “help” mommy with Jackson but so far it has not been an issue at all. We have regular talks about picking him up or putting things in his mouth not being ok.  I feel blessed beyond what I deserve. The whole birth experience was a fabulous one. I don’t think I would change a thing! Even the journey the pregnancy took me on before delivery was one that I will always hold dear to my heart. The lessons the Lord taught me, the fear He helped me deal with, the peace He brought in His time, and the amazing little man he has entrusted us with are all things that make me feel like I’ve been hugged by my maker.

Thank you Jesus for life!